The disclosures herein relate generally to a computer system and more particularly to the arrangement of components in a computer system chasis.
Today""s customers are asking for smaller chassis enclosures without giving up performance or serviceability. The components inside the chassis are not getting smaller and in some cases growing larger. The problem is to more efficiently package components and still maintain a high level of manufacturability and serviceability.
Today""s chassis are about 50% volume efficient. In every desktop chassis today, extra room is left inside the chassis for hand/access room for manufacturing and service. This extra room creates larger chassis than customers are demanding and drives up shipping and material cost for the larger enclosures.
Therefore, what is needed is a computer chassis that is not oversized and can compactly house all of the computer components for easy access.
One embodiment, accordingly, provides a swing-open computer chassis. To this end, a computer chassis includes a base portion formed of a metal chassis and a cosmetic cover. A top portion of the chassis is formed of a metal chassis and a cosmetic cover. A plurality of first computer components are mounted in the base portion. A plurality of second computer components are mounted in the top portion. A pivotal connection is provided between the top portion and the base portion. The top portion is pivotable about 90xc2x0 relative to the base portion to an open position immediately exposing all of the first and second computer components for access, without removing any of the cosmetic covers.
A principal advantage of this embodiment is that the computer chassis size is maintained due to the compact positioning of components in the top and base chassis portions. The open chassis provides for top down assembly and total system access. The chassis may be opened and closed without removing any of the cosmetic covers.